Monday, 31 December 2012

This is my outfit for tonight! This dress, courtesy of Oh My Love, arrived just in time for New Years! It's absolutely perfect for the occasion with a tulle underskirt, and its short, strapless, fitted shape and puffy skirt. Plus it's sparkly! I'm not doing anything huge for this New Years eve, just hanging out with a group of my closet friends, which I'm really looking forward to.

Here's a song to get you in the mood for New Years (it's a good 'un! Have a listen! Dance dance dance!)

You can't see it from far away, but this is my make-up for tonight - subtle gold sparkles on my eyes and lips. Actually, you can't even really see it in this photo either (I'm kind of embarrassingly bad at make-up for a fashion blogger really, haha).

So I LOVE it when science is combined with art. Random International have created a Rain Room installation, which allows participants to explore the room and their movements influence the fall of the rain - and at the same time, measures and researches the behaviours of its viewers.

"[Rain Room invites participants] to contemplate how technology alters our environment, ultimately questioning the role humans play in its alteration. It provides an instance where the forces beyond human control (i.e.: the weather) are manipulated by human activity."

Please go if you live in the UK. It looks way too good. Click here for the gallery's website!

Sunday, 30 December 2012

The Pineneedle Collective has had a pretty amazing year. As I only started blogging properly last December (only one year ago), it's crazy to see how much this little space has grown in 2012, particularly as I also started commuting 4 hours a day to university at the same time!

One of the highlights of blogging for me this year was that I was able to "meet" so many lovely people, either in the blogging community or those who are just readers. You've been nothing short of amazing. I'm constantly amazed by the thoughtful comments you leave, pictures you draw me and intelligent thoughts you leave in relation to my science posts! And even if you haven't left me any comments or sent me messages (goodness knows there's so many blogs that I silently creep on), it's awesome to know that there's so many of you reading and appreciating what I have to say. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Here's some of my blog highlights from the past year!

My DIY Valentines tights - with more than 50000 pageviews, this was a post which I had the most awesome feedback on, and have subsequently seen popping up all over the internet! It is amazing to know they've inspired so many people!

Dying my hair pink, lilac and blue... and (accidentally) green...

Learning how to make my own dresses and then subsequently making a whole heap from anything I could find, including pillowcases and tablecloths.

Starting a love-affair with wigs in this post (may have also been a consequence of attempting to maintain my bright pink hair and subsequently destroying it...)

Introducing my science alter-ego in this post and beginning to add a scientific fact to each outfit post! This is the thing I'm most proud of in 2012, especially as it's helped me to discover other fashionable science bloggers and the fact that I have a whole bunch of intelligent blog readers! I'm inspired by the feedback I get on my science posts, especially the few messages I've received where someone's told me they want to do science because of my blog! I aspire to be a Brain Cox-esque science communicator one day, so it's been a very modest, but good start.

And just this month, opening my own store! This is an idea I'd been toying with for months and I finally did it! And I've even made some sales, so I've been pretty chuffed with that :)

And that brings us to last night. I wanted to share with you all some shots I took last night with my boyfriend's little brother (hi Johnson!) who has just started getting interested in photography. I wanted to show him how to do "long exposure" shots and this is what we came up with! I felt like they were quite appropriate photos for bringing in the new years, and so this is how I'm ending the post. Happy New Years, everyone!

I attempted to write "Pineneedle" in the one below, but failed pretty badly. It kind of looks like it says Pineneedle, right? And because Johnson is also a 13 year old boy, I was obliged to do one that said "Batman".

Hahaha.

Hope you all have a wonderful New Years and that 2013 is full of learning, love, laughter and good things. I'm very excited (and nervous!) for 2013. Did I mention that I'm going to Japan in 27 days?? And then moving out of home?!

I will have one last post tomorrow showing off a New Year's countdown outfit!

Saturday, 29 December 2012

I promised you guys I'd get some beach shots while I was on holidays. Shooting at "golden hour" on a beach with a flowy, over-the-top dress (and credit for the photographs goes to my boyfriend Luci) is something I have wanted to do for so long now. It's probably cliché but it's also really pretty, so who cares?

These beaches are amazing, and basically deserted, meaning we often have them all to ourselves. I am so lucky to be able to visit these beaches for a holiday, and when the sun sets, and the stars come out (spectacularly - due to there being very little light pollution) it feels pretty magical.

Friday, 28 December 2012

I've got some brand new things in my shop, including these heart shaped collar clips! I also wanted to ask you guys - which colour heart clips would you guys most like to be made? The red ones are up in my store already, but maybe you guys want to see some other colours? In fact there's a poll in the sidebar which you can use to vote :) I'd really appreciate it!
I really like these red heart ones - you all know I'm obsessed with anything heart-printed or heart-shaped - so consequently I've been pairing them with every single outfit lately. And I have to admit that this outfit probably went a little over the top with heart print items - my clips, my shorts AND my sweater. Ah well. One can never wear too many hearts.

Astronomers recently took this picture (the one of the left) of the surface of Titan and have deduced that it is very likely a river. Titan is one of Saturn's moons and likely the most habitable body in our solar system after Earth, and the only other world we know of with stable liquid on its surface. The scientists don't think the river is water however, more likely liquid ethane or methane. Still, it's pretty exciting to imagine an alien world with a running river and possibly even oceans.

The image on the right is an artistic representation by Ron Miller of this river. Even though it's not a real photograph, I love these kinds of images almost more than the real thing - and they're so valuable to scientists in helping capture people's imaginations and create interest in the work that the scientists are doing.

Plus imagine how cool it would be to look up at the sky and see Saturn just hanging there.

Wednesday, 26 December 2012

It's cold :( But I happen to love this outfit, so nevermind. Another mix of neutrals and browns - I love this kind of colour combination! I also found the perfect blouse to go with my handmade bear pinafore.

And I'm also very happy to announce the winners of the Adventure Time clip giveaway! The winner was randomly selected from an amazing 584 entries :) Kelsea and Jasmine, check your inboxes. I'm really happy that I decided to add a second set because Kelsea, who entered the "draw me a picture" competition, happened to be one of the winners! You guys should also check out the amazing illustrations done by my blog readers showcased here! They're sooooo good, and I am amazed by their creativity - I seriously love you guys :)

In talking about the end of the universe and the expansion of space the other day, someone asked me via twitter "well what is the universe expanding into?" Good question, and this astronomer says "time". A really interesting answer (and this is just one perspective), click here to read it.

Tuesday, 25 December 2012

I don't often post photos of "life" things, but today was such a lovely day that I thought I'd share some of the snaps I took. Enjoy, and I hope everyone is having a lovely day! (Or is about to - it's still Christmas eve for my American readers! Make sure you go to bed before Santa gets there!)

Dinosaur jars I made for my boyfriend's sister, re-purposing some old jars and dinosaur toys, following Kitten Bear's awesome DIY.

A whole heap of presents for a very large family!! And our teeeny little Christmas tree (we got the tree too late and so had to settle for something small. I think it's cute though.)

Present from my boyfriend's parents - Chemistry mugs!! The nerdiest/coolest gift. Here it's filled with some hot chocolate because it was cold this morning (it's definitely not a typical Australian christmas)/

The present my boyfriend got me! Unfortunately it didn't arrive in the mail in time, so he made me this card of it, featuring Princess Bubblegum - It's a SOLAR SYSTEM MOBILE!!! Hahaha I am so excited for it to arrive :)

And what I got for my boyfriend - a Kindle which I loaded up with a whole bunch of science fiction and David Mitchell's autobiography.

And of course - a snap of the Christmas outfit I decided on! (and OMG my real - and very windblown - hair!) Dress is c/o Koogal, sweater is vintage and shoes are from Asos.